Guilty Landscapes
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photo Pieter Kers | Beeld.nu
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
Photos Willem Popelier, Christopher Hewitt.
What initially appears to be a pre-recorded video of a troubled place in the world is revealed to be a live internet connection. Upon entering an empty museum space, the viewer encounters a life-size projection of a ‘guilty landscape’: a setting defined by human suffering. A resident of that location, visible in the projection, looks back at the viewer. Without overt moral judgement, the protagonist mirrors the behaviour of the museum visitor. The person in the image appears unaffected, or only faintly touched, by the presumed suffering, subtly challenging the notion of victimhood. A fleeting connection arises where distance and intimacy, apathy and empathy merge.
The simple encounter makes the comfortable outsider position, so common in museums, impossible. Rather than focusing on the specific issues of the location depicted, the work turns attention to the act of viewing itself, questioning the assumptions and implicit power relations behind the gaze on ‘the pain of others’. The people on the screen invert the asymmetry: they are not passive representatives of circumstance, but actively engage with the situation in the exhibition space. The work reminds us that spectatorship is never neutral—to watch is to become involved.
Guilty Landscapes consists of four episodes: episode I Hangzhou, episode II Port-au-Prince, episode III Homs, episode IV Pattaya. Each episode evokes a connection between people across the globe. No explanation or commentary mediates the viewer’s encounter with the subject. What remains is the encounter itself: unadorned, uncomfortable, and inescapable, leaving the viewer in a state of lingering uncertainty.
What initially appears to be a pre-recorded video of a troubled place in the world is revealed to be a live internet connection. Upon entering an empty museum space, the viewer encounters a life-size projection of a ‘guilty landscape’: a setting defined by human suffering. A resident of that location, visible in the projection, looks back at the viewer. Without overt moral judgement, the protagonist mirrors the behaviour of the museum visitor. The person in the image appears unaffected, or only faintly touched, by the presumed suffering, subtly challenging the notion of victimhood. A fleeting connection arises where distance and intimacy, apathy and empathy merge.
The simple encounter makes the comfortable outsider position, so common in museums, impossible. Rather than focusing on the specific issues of the location depicted, the work turns attention to the act of viewing itself, questioning the assumptions and implicit power relations behind the gaze on ‘the pain of others’. The people on the screen invert the asymmetry: they are not passive representatives of circumstance, but actively engage with the situation in the exhibition space. The work reminds us that spectatorship is never neutral—to watch is to become involved.
Guilty Landscapes consists of four episodes: episode I Hangzhou, episode II Port-au-Prince, episode III Homs, episode IV Pattaya. Each episode evokes a connection between people across the globe. No explanation or commentary mediates the viewer’s encounter with the subject. What remains is the encounter itself: unadorned, uncomfortable, and inescapable, leaving the viewer in a state of lingering uncertainty.
Video
Video by Thorsten Alofs and Christopher Hewitt.
Video by Thorsten Alofs and Christopher Hewitt.
Video by Thorsten Alofs and Christopher Hewitt.
Video by Thorsten Alofs and Christopher Hewitt.
Video by Thorsten Alofs and Christopher Hewitt.
Press
"Staging spectators in immersive performances' Theresa Schütz relates "Guilty Landscapes, episode II” to the concepts of Nicolas Bourriaud and Judith Butler on relational aesthetics and the act of framing."
'Staging spectators in immersive performances', Routledge (3 May 2029)Read the article (in English)
"Guilty Landscapes brought ambivalence and anxiety, curiosity and empathy, smiles and sorrow, shock and indifference."
'The Lady In The Factory In Hangzhou', Maria Katsounaki for www.kathimerini.gr (8 July 2018)Read the translated review (in English)Read the review (in Greek)
"His work is not elitist and the viewer is implicated in the work as he/she witnesses it."
'Guilty Landscapes : A new challenge by Dries Verhoeven at Athens Festival.', Alexandros Diakosavvas for www.lifo.gr (3 May 2018)Read the translated review (in English)Read the review (in Greek)
"In this and other works I try to encourage an audience to question the prefabricated frames with which they meet the protagonists of the news, both the supposed perpetrators, as the alleged victims."
'Dries Verhoeven: Επιχειρώ να αναστατώνω τις ηθικές πυξίδες των θεατών', Faye Tzanetoulakou for Culturenow.gr (22 June 2018)Read the translated interview (in English)Read the interview (in Greek)
"Guilty Landscapes offers visitors an experience that is moving yet at the same time daunting and where visitors are made aware of the empathic line usually drawn between people and their appearance or environment – before they become permeated by illusion."
'Abschied mit«Uncertainty»', Anja Quikert for Theater heute, p.31 (30 September 2016)Read the article (in German)
"We wish to stay longer in front of the image in which betrayel is involved"
An article about the Festival in Santarcangelo, Gianni Manzela for Il Manifesto (20 July 2019)Read the article (in Italian)
"Aboard the Titanic...the only thing you can do is resolve your conscience issues—tell yourself you’re not responsible for steering the ship. If you don’t, life becomes unbearable, a recipe for depression.”
‘A dor dos Outros’, Daniel Dias for Publico (29 September 2024)Read the article (in Portuguese)
"A strong feature of the work is that you are attributed the role of voyeur upon arrival, but that a little later that position gently tilts. Just looking doesn't seem like an option [...]"
'Shoes off, gestures the man in his underpants', Hagar Schuringa for NRC (10 November 2021)Read the review (in Dutch)
"(…) the interaction is all-important here. The shock Verhoeven delivers the viewer (only one visitor may enter the installation at a time) is massive, and so are the after-effects."
‘Slow, intriguing film and poetry at the Oerol Festival’, Ron Rijghard for NRC (13 June 2017)Read the review (in Dutch)
"Did I feel pity, shame or admiration? After all she looked proud and happy, not anxious or tormented. Not exactly a victim."
'Dance with you secretly', Annette Embrechts for De Volkskrant (20 October 2016)Read the article (in Dutch)
"With his work the Dutch artist Dries Verhoeven scratches where it hurts, because that is the purpose of art".
'Disruption is the goal', Evelyne Coussens for the Flemish newspaper De Morgen (28 September 2016)Read the article (in Dutch)
"As simple as it is refined, as deceptive as it is genuine. (...) Your feelings of guilt are jolted by the unexpected proximity during this first episode of Verhoeven’s series Guilty Landscapes."
'Minimum movement, maximum impact', Annette Embrechts for the Volkskrant (21 May 2016)Read the review (in Dutch)
"Verhoeven’s moving film installation (...), as short as it is, is already one of the best experiences at the fourth edition of the fusion festival."
'Moving film installation by Dries Verhoeven at Spring', Francine van der Wiel for NRC Handelsblad (23 May 2016)Read the review (in Dutch)
"This first episode is a short but impressive meeting in which Verhoeven unravels the role of the viewer – not only within the context of this video performance but on a wider scale."
'Going beyond transience', Sander Janssens for Theaterkrant.nl (20 May 2016)Read the review (in Dutch)
"The meeting should toss gratuitous assumptions overboard, or in any case, provide nuances."
'Theatre that confronts you with disasters', Joke Beeckmans for NRC Handelsblad (18 May 2016)Read the article (in Dutch)
radio and television
Podium on Tour – NTR (21-08-2016)
Andrew Makkinga made an item for the tv-program Podium on Tour, after having seen the installation on Theaterfestival Boulevard in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
View the item (from 13:13) (in Dutch)
Nooit meer slapen (No more sleep) – VPRO Radio (18-05-2016)
During the VPRO radio program ‘Nooit meer slapen’, the guest decides the topic of conversation by means of drawing cards with challenging questions. There is only one condition: answer honestly. Verhoeven spoke about the video installation Guilty Landscapes on the verge of SPRING Festival 2016.
context
“People sometimes ask me about the how and why of a work. But when I hear myself talking, I realise that which is ambiguous in the piece suddenly seems unambiguous through my words, too simple, maybe even a veiled appeal for approval”.
Verhoeven decided to keep his mouth shut more often and share texts that have inspired him in the creative process or writings by journalists/writers reflecting on the work itself. Viewers who want clarification could possibly be guided on their way by these texts.
Visitors of Guilty Landscapes were offered two fragments of ‘Regarding the pain of others’ by Susan Sontag or a text by the Dutch journalist/author Dirk Vis, ‘Sharing the pain of Avatars’.
Credits
concept Dries Verhoeven
production Studio Dries Verhoeven